


what will you do with all this poison? (nothing good)

by sapphicazula



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, Deal With It, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Internalized Homophobia, Not too heavy though, and they’re aged up just because, it’s mostly ‘teen and up’ for a little swearing, promoting my ‘azula and sokka are besties actually’ agenda
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 13:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30005379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphicazula/pseuds/sapphicazula
Summary: Azula (tries to) come out to Ty Lee.
Relationships: Azula & Sokka (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	1. i just wanted to protect you

**Author's Note:**

> ao3 summary?  
> me: no<3
> 
> cw for internalized homophobia

Sokka cleared his throat in the way he did when he was about to give a sophisticated point in an obnoxious old shrink’s voice. The latter, thankfully, was not true in this case. “ Welll , have you ever considered that you’re still in denial?”

Azula snapped upright from her bed, “Excuse me?”

“You shouldn’t lean over so much, your spine’ll rip a hole in the bottom of your back,” he added casually as if he’d said nothing before, taking an obnoxious chomp of his apple. 

Sokka’s eyes went wide as if he’d realized something life-changing. “Which means you won’t be able to digest, food...and you’ll never be able eat meat again!” he wailed.

“ Sokka! ” Azula snapped. “Stop whining. And my posture is excellent, I’ll have you know—I’m just examining our textbook, Agni.” 

He gave a sheepish smile and spun his chair back toward the desk. 

Sokka was only in her room because her doltish brother hadn’t arrived yet. They were apparently supposed to be studying at this hour and Zuko stood him up (“Hey, don’t call it that, it’s not like it’s a date or something!” Sokka insisted). 

As much as she hated to admit it, she didn’t mind the water tribe boy’s company. Sokka was very intelligent, and she could both acknowledge and respect that (albeit despising him for being near her level at anything, originally) even if he happened to be a moron at other times. Her only regret was underestimating how observant he could be when he wanted to. Now was one of those days.

“Well, aren’t you going to clarify?” Azula asked in annoyance.

“Huh? Oh, well, you’ll lean over so much that your spine will curve impossibly, and then-“

“No, you moron, the-!” she sighed. “The—about what we were just...” She found her self frustrated and embarrassed that she couldn’t bring herself to voice the topic of their previous conversation. 

“Ohhh, you’re asking about why I said you were in denial and that’s why you can’t come out to Ty Lee!” 

Azula blushed and and repositioned the textbook on her lap, not really wanting to look at Sokka—although he was facing the opposite of her. “Yes, that’s what we were just talking about, wasn’t it?” 

She clearly spoke too soon as Sokka whipped around to face her, still chomping  way too loudly on his apple. Azula briefly considered burning it but Sokka had already begun talking.

“Yeah, it was! Anyway, maybe you just haven’t fully processed you being gay—or whatever label you use—and so you can’t bring yourself to tell her,” he proposed. 

She wished he wouldn’t talk so candidly about these things. Azula would be fine if they discussed the topic vaguely but ultimately knew what each other were talking about.

“I don’t think that’s the problem,” she muttered, scribbling something in her textbook. She’d have to go back and rewrite it later she knew, her handwriting was ever so slightly off and she wouldn’t accept it. 

Sokka crossed her is arms and huffed. “Alright then, what makes telling me so different from telling Ty Lee?”

Well. Azula certainly wasn’t expecting that question. She began to sputter excuses like an idiot.

“Because Ty Lee’s my—well it’s different because, y-you were, it’s-“ she groaned in frustration and shoved the textbook from her lap. A childish move.

“See? Denial. You can’t even admit your feelings for her.”

“Wow, Sokka, thanks for being so helpful and supportive,” Azula deadpanned. Her golden eyes were falling from sharp and criticizing, not suitable on the receiving end for advice in the first place, but who cared? She needed to keep the upper hand in  some way, with all the stammering and blushing she was doing. Azula had intended on conversing formally and logically, none of this ‘heart to heart stuff’. 

Sokka frowned, “Wh-hey, I am being-!” 

He sighed and for a moment Azula thought the conversation would end there. Until he came to sit on the edge of the bed, a single leg dangling off. “I do support you, Azula,” he said quietly, “I know you feel like you’re alone but there are people who care for you.”

“People who don’t know who I really am,” she responded.

Sokka’s sad face only worsened. He didn’t have any definite proof that the rest of his friends or Azula’s would be supportive and he knew it, and so did Azula. It made her more uneasy then she’d like to admit. “Well, if nothing else helps, you know that I know who you are and I chose to stay. Why should anyone else choose any different?”

Azula could think of only ten reasons to answer that off the top of her head, most supplied to her by her father, yet kept her mouth shut, listening to the quiet tap of her thumbs on denim clad thighs.

“And besides, do you really think Ty Lee of all people would reject you?” Sokka asked. Azula frowned and began to explain further why she was worried, until Sokka draped his head in front of her in a dramatic theatrical style and fanned his face dramatically. 

In a shrilly voice, he cried, “ ‘Oh no, my best friend for six years now, at the  all girls school we attend, says she wants to kiss girls! She’s evil incarnate! Oh, save me,  save me !’ ”

“Sokka, stop that!” she shouted, her voice unintentionally raising in volume from a measly attempt to stop inevitable laughter. She had to admit, it sounded a little silly when he put it like that, though she still held some worry.

She shoved Sokka onto her bed and laughter inevitably worked its way out slowly from her.

They both cracked up at his ridiculous impression of her friend for quite a few minutes, until giggles shrunk to silence. Azula dragged her textbook back to her and tried to resume her work. 

“Hey, you know I’m right, that’s why you laughed, huh?”

Azula rolled her eyes, still smiling. “No, I’m laughing because you’re an idiot.”

“Idiot or not, my point still stands,” he scoffed, still lying flat in the bed. The room went silent for a while except for the furious scratch from led to paper, only amplified by her almost empty room. Maybe it wasn’t empty, per se, but it was admittedly big in comparison to her friend’s houses that she’d seen. 

“You know if you feel pressured and don’t actually  want to come out, you don’t have to,” Sokka said finally.

“That’s not it, I just...” she sighed, glancing over at Sokkas browning apple poisoning her lovely marble desk.

Sokka sat up to look at her and waited patiently.

“...don’t want her to—I just don’t want to ruin our perfectly fine friendship is all.” She shifted herself on the duvet.

Sokka hummed in understanding and lied back down, this time with his head beside Azula’s spot. “What are you doing?” Azula asked.

“Getting comfortable before I bombard you with questions,” was his answer. Before Azula could say anything, he asked, “So, what’s Ty Lee like?”

Azula’s face flushed, “What? You know Ty Lee!”

Sokka smirked knowingly, “This is usually the part where you gush about how much your in love and how  perfect Ty Lee is.” 

“I really hate you sometimes,” is all she muttered.

“Yeah yeah, now tell me!”

“ Alright . I don’t know what you really want me to say, Sokka, Ty Lee is Ty Lee,” she started cautiously, aware of Sokka’s chin propped on her shin. He’d switched spots on her bed in less than a minute. She really didn’t know why he felt the need to love so much with all this space in her bedroom.

“And who is Ty Lee? To you?”

Being a fire bender, Azula could somewhat control her body temperature, though she was still working on the technique. So the heat in her cheeks was thankfully absent. The red, however, was very visible, and the thought of its presence on its own made her uncomfortable.

Azula let out a deep breath and started, “Well she...puts up with me for one, that alone should deserve something. She isn’t entirely bothered by my presence, and seems to...to not  not enjoy it, actually.”She sank into herself a little hunched over sheepishly, feeling embarrassed. 

Sokka was clearly enjoying this. She quickly wondered if he was only finding this amusing and would use it to his advantage later. “Continue!” he said.

Sokka wouldn’t do that. He was the closest friend she had ever besides Ty Lee, and even Azula hadn’t come out to her like she did Sokka.

Azula cleared her throat awkwardly. “She’s supportive and kind and genuine, pretty much the opposite of me. She’s, um, really talented. That part we have in common,” she was sure to note.

Sokka motioned for her to go on.

“She cares deeply about th-things...I’m not suggesting those things are me, of course! She’s just, it’s generally speaking” Azula’s voice was unnecessarily defensive.

Sokka peered up inquisitively at her. “Do you think she cares about you?”

Azula looked down in thought. “Well if she does,  _ I _ sure don’t deserve it,” she laughed dryly. Sokka, evidently, didn’t find it funny.

“Maybe she does,” Azula tried again, “But whenever she gets close to expressing that, I feel gross, like I’m preying on her or something.” 

Sokka raised an eyebrow, “Why?” 

Azula shrugged. “I don’t get that part either...perhaps because I don’t deserve it? I mean, who knows if she actually even  wants to be my friend,” she snorted.

Azula started to quicken her pace of words, “A-and I really am grateful to have a friend like her because she makes me really, really ‘happy’ or something like that, so why would I in my right mind think to ruin something like that?”

“Why do you think you’ll ruin you two by telling her?” Sokka asked.

“Because if I tell her that I’m gay she’ll think I like her! Which I do, of course...”

Azula pressed her lips together in frustration, a little surprised at her momentary shortage of breath. 

“Alright,” Sokka said, breaking the brief silence, “so the question now is do you want to come out to her or not?”

“Yes, I do, I’m just—I don’t know what will happen.”  And that scares me. 

The other no sat up and placed a hand on her knee. “That’s okay. It’s alright to be afraid, you know.”

“I’m not afraid,” she defended. “Why would I of all people be afraid?”  _ Good question _ , her inner voice internally snickered

Sokka gave her a look. “Just...cautious,” she added, making Sokka fix her with those deeply amused brown eyes.

“Well? How do I do it? How do I tell her?”

“Well, you usually have an airplane spell out _‘_ _ IM A BIG FAT HOMO _ _’_ in the air after you take her to the ledge of a cliff. And you do all your flippy-cartwheel stuff girls do later to celebrate.” 

Azula looked at him questioningly. “Really?”

Sokka started to buckle over in laughter. 

“What? Of course you don’t do that! Unless you really want to, then-OW!”

Azula punched him hard in the chest, glaring. “That’s not funny, Sokka,” she growled.

“Alright alright I’m sorry! I apologize!” he shrieked. If Azula had cat ears in this moment (an animal Sokka was sure to compare her general sharp skills to...it was better than ‘spidery sense’, though), they would have perked up instantly as she suddenly and rose from the bed.

“Zuzu’s here,” she announced.

Sokka’s eyes lit up, but he quickly played it off with a roll of his eyes. “Finally, he can’t arrive time to save his life, can he?Hey wait, I never gave you advice on how to tell her!”

“I suppose I’ll need to figure it out on my own then. Go get your boyfriend, water boy,” she smirked, knowing the reaction she’d get.

“He  isn’t— we aren’t—fine!” He started to walk toward the door and suddenly halted.

“Oh, and Azula?”

“Yes?” she hoped the clipped tone would get through to the boy and he’d leave. It was nothing personal, she just had work to do. Azula only deemed this supposed-to-be-five-minute conversation important enough that she could multitask. 

“Don’t think about what anyone else wants for you, when you tell Ty Lee. Think about what you want. That’s important, too, you know.” He looked at her sincerely.

Azula hated that she knew exactly who he was talking about. She could practically see her father towering over her and lecturing on the importance of heterosexuality as a young girl. She was still young, of course, but regardless.

“Whatever,  Sokka . Tell Zuzu he’s making dinner this time, I’ve made it the past two days Father’s been away. I want dumplings and something else.”

Sokka grimaced at the mention of her father and Azula noticed immediately. He didn’t stay anything, though, and instead grinned. “See you later, Hotman!”


	2. phone calls from pretty girls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you all know that scene in inside out where Anger takes over in Riley’s head at the dinner table? bringing that up for no reason (yes there is you’ll see). also, comments & kudos(es?) are lovely and appreciated ‘and stuff’ ;) (p.s you have NO idea how tempted I was to title this “Local Useless Lesbian Bleeds In An Act of Lesbian Uselessness“)
> 
> cw for self harm & a little more internalized homophobia (someone give azula a hug :( )

Azula was surprised to feel an alarming and tickling buzz on the soles of her feet in the middle of the night. By  surprised  she meant she violently tugged her feet away and possibly burned the end of her innocent blanket. 

_ I’ll simply fetch some more later _ _she thought_ , realizing the vibration was her cell phone and snatching it up. 

She expected it to be Sokka and was a little more than taken aback when she saw Ty Lee’s caller ID at the top. Azula inhaled a sharp take of air and squinted. It was too late to contemplate swiping up, the call was done.

She began to panic.  _ What if she thinks I was ignoring her? Why is she calling me anyway? Did she somehow find out about Sokka and I’s conversation today?  _

Coincidence nor  conspiracy wasn’t the right word. Ty Lee regularly called Azula around this hour to lecture her on the importance of taking breaks from work. Perhaps Azula would’ve acknowledged this if she hadn’t been busy panicking over phone calls from pretty girls after incinerating her bed.

After scrambling to make sure her books were perfectly in tact, she re-retrieved the device to dial up Ty Lee’s number, but she was already calling her again.

Azula took a deep breath after feeling settled down and answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Azula! It is so good to hear from you again!” Ty Lee exclaimed. “Why weren’t you answering earlier?”

“I was...working,” Azula supplied, not technically lying.

“The whole purpose of these calls is to take a break from working, silly!” the girl over the phone giggled.

“My my, silly me assumed you called because you  cared ,” she purred.

She could practically hear the energetic girl frowning over the phone. “I do care about you, and I care about your health too, that’s why you need to take a break with these phone calls,” she explained. 

“I don’t recall asking for you to enlighten me,” she muttered.

“How’d your day go today?” Ty Lee asked perkily, undeterred. 

Of course, the primary part of her day that she remembered was her conversation with Sokka, which reminded her that she was supposed to be coming out to Ty Lee, today.

“Oh, it was..informing,” Azula answered.  Tell her.

“Oh? You learned something new?”

“No, no just...well yes I suppose I learned a few things.”

“Well that’s great!” 

“Ty Lee, do you want to come over?” She widened her eyes and facepalmed.

“Oh, um..”

Dread settled in her chest and she quickly aided, “I would never force you of course, Zuzu is making grilled fish and dumplings, we could taunt him for his horrid cooking and—s-stuff...”  Stuff? ‘Stuff’?!? 

“Oh I’d love to come,” she giggled, and Azula momentarily allowed herself to marvel at the sound, “Sorry, I was just...thinking,” she murmured thoughtfully.”

“Oh,” Azula managed to get out. The kind and thoughtful thing to say was ‘ What are you thinking about? ’ or ‘ Is something bothering you ’

She asked neither of these questions, these soft and caring questions she didn’t dare utter, because they weren’t meant for someone like her to say. She wasn’t capable of the smallest forms of tenderness and that is how it would always be, how it always was. And yet...

_You don’t need it_ ,  she reminded herself.

“I’d better be checking on my idiot brother in case he’s burned the house down,” Azula sighed. “See you in five?” She knew her house was closer than five minutes but didn’t want to suffocate her with her presence. 

“Okay!” Ty Lee agreed. “See you in a few,” she blew a kiss over the phone childishly and hung up.

“Okay,” Azula said aloud well after the call ended, staring at the phone in her hand. Ty Lee was coming over, as she’d done plenty of times. This was different, though, and she knew it. 

Maybe I could wait , she reasoned with herself urgently,  if this night goes well why ruin it ?

She had might as well get this over with anyway.  If she hates me, she hates me, I’m sure she already has all this time anyway , Azula thought to herself bitterly.

An offbeat knock at the door snapped her attention upward to a scared, ruffled haired boy. 

“Zuzu,” she drawled, “Is our food done?”

Zuko squinted, “Why do you insist on calling me that so much?”

“Doesn’t matter, you certainly won’t stop me from doing it.” She narrowed her eyes at him, challenging him to protest. He stared right back, with a gaze much less intense, she was sure.

“We have a guest coming over,” she said casually, turning her attention slowly to the blackened sheets.

“What happened there?” Zuko asked.

“Not important. Aren’t you going to ask who the guest is?”

Zuko smiled, “Nope, I know it’s Ty Lee.”. 

Azula’s heart rate quickly picked up to it’s speed on her previous phone call. “Why do you say that?”

He shrugged, “I came in here to check on you and you were calling someone, and by the sound of your voice...it was—the end of the phone call!” he assured, clearly picking up on her threatening glare.

“What...did I sound like?” A fool, probably.  _ Zuko’s heard me awkwardly stammering away to my best friend. How wonderful. _

This question apparently rises confusion in Zuko. It would for her too, for Azula didn’t care for anyone else’s opinion on her, and she knew all. The boy noticed this. He scratched his head and laughed, “Uh, it’s, nothing.”

Azula rolled her eyes and stood up. “Is the food done or not, brother?”

He returned his hands to his side. “Yes, it is.”

“Alright...Ty Lee will be here in a moment, so do be on your best behaviour and try nothing too wild, please.”

Zuko nodded, “Sokka’s coming as well, actually.”

Azula gasped unintentionally, “What?”

“Do you and Sokka have a problem..? He told me you two were like best friends, and I know you don’t t along with the rest of the gaang, so I figured...”

“No, I don’t have a problem with  Sokka ,” she snapped. “Why—why is he coming?” Had he told Zuko? They hung out enough, he surely had told him some personal things, maybe even  her personal things. “This is fine, I just didn’t know is all,” she dismissed. 

Zuko gave her a quizzical look and shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll be setting up the table if you need me.”

She said nothing in response, staring at the phone on her bed as her older brother exited her room.

The siblings were somehow wary yet...understanding of each other. Neither would ever admit tolerating one another if the question rose, probably. Or Azula wouldn’t, at least. But someone had to occasionally watch after her clueless klutz of a brother now that mother wasn’t around.  _ And father simply doesn’t care.  _

She yanked herself back into reality to examine her clothing...and it actually wasn’t that special, surprisingly, given her enormous access to money and impossibly myriad wardrobe. She didn’t really need to put much effort in to look excellent, she supposed.

High-waisted ripped dark jeans and sock-less (kinda small) feet was what she saw below her. Above her waist, a long stylish jacket zipped and covering her sports bra underneath, an entirely black outfit. She only needed to touch up her make up a bit and then —

A doorbell quite rudely interrupted Azula’s self fashion critique, and as she was getting ready to grumble under her breath, she realized who she’d just invited only a few minutes ago. Well that was quick, she gulped, scrambling for for her eyeliner before her brother would let the acrobat in.

~

Ty Lee was breathtaking when Azula finally saw her.

Sure, she said this every time she saw her, but everyday she was different, alright?

Ty Lee wore only a light pink crop top, a pink and white striped jacket over that, and satin sweatpants. That were pink, of course. Her discarded shoes revealed high socks, squishy pineapples scattered around pale blue background. Her excited swirling eyes found Azula in the kitchen and she didn’t really say anything, but smiled hopelessly. Ty Lee on the other hand ran to tackle her in a hug.

Sokka arrived a minute or so after, and finally, they all sat down to eat their food.

Azula wasn’t able to keep her promise to Ty Lee about the food—it actually didn’t taste like dirt. Ty Lee and Sokka commented on this, while Azula silently chewed. The fact that she was silent instead of teasing him should be rewarding enough, she decided. She was probably right too, Zuko kept shooting her questioning, wary, and even  worried glances. Azula of course, didn’t like the fact that her brother was a better cook than her. 

He’s better at nothing than me, I just lack in certain...food areas,  she felt the need to reassure herself. For a small moment, some meme Sokka sent her—something about gay people driving, cooking, and doing math, inevitably failing in one area—popped into her mind, and she dismissed it with a subtle shake of her head. Sokka and his dumb jokes.

The group continued to talk about how good the food was, a time where Sokka and Zuko broke into the school to retrieve his study guide, and other school-related thing Azula didn’t care for. She continued to chew her dumplings nonchalantly. 

Ty Lee listened to the two intently the whole time—or Azula would’ve thought that was the case, until she looked up and caught the all pink clad girl staring at her. Azula gave her a  what’s wrong  look because she couldn’t say such a thing aloud at the dinner table—or aloud at all, really. 

Ty Lee looked..flustered? Or maybe she was just surprised. Either way she smiled at her and turned her head haltingly toward her food. 

Did Azula not look as flattering as she thought? Had she spilled food onto herself like a toddler? A quick check scratched that off the list.  It was just a smile and—and ‘staring’ if you can all it that, it wasn’t that big of a deal.

“ Azula? Is something wrong ?”

Azula looked up at the group of three. Sokka had voiced the concern. 

“I’m fine. You all should be eating,” she informed them accusingly. Ty Lee frowned, which made Azula feel worse than anything her brother and Sokka could say in that moment, and she pretended not to see her.

“We are eating, and talking. You should be talking with the rest of us!” Sokka exclaimed, not even angry—yet.

“Sokka, what is your problem?” Azula demanded, setting down her chopsticks.

“My problem is you won’t talk to us! I was only asking-“

“ My problem is you won’t shut the fuck up and let me eat my food!” she shouted, slamming her fists to the table. They both glared at one another. 

Ty Lee tried to talk first, “Azula, hey-”

“Don’t,” she seethed, getting up from the dining table. She didn’t stomp like some teenager out of an American coming-of-age film, but she was fairly sure she was shaking, not visible enough that the rest of them would know.

She suddenly was sat on her bed and working to steady her currently-balancing-on-a-tightrope-without-the-successful-balancing-part breath, digging her nails—more like claws—into her palms. _That’d certainly leave a mark._ That would turn out to be an understatement later.

She wasn’t surprised no one came knocking on her door to check on her, not Ty Lee either. Who would want to visit her after she’d shouted at everyone like some sort of monster.

The ghastly bloody sight on her hands after she lifted her razor nails only confirmed the title graciously rewarded to her by her own mother. The blood fell in dirty strings from the flaps of her skin. the Just as her breath became more erratic, there was a soft knock a the door.

“Azula? Can I come in?” a familiar light voice came. “Are you—um—decent?”

Azula sighed. “Why on Earth would I be naked, Ty Lee?”

With an awkward giggle, Ty Lee opened her room door and gasped at what she found. “Azula your—your hands!”

She glanced down to where the grey eyed girl watched in horror in raised her eyebrows in acknowledgement. “Oh.” The spiking burning pain had finally started to set in. “It would seem my...emotions had blocked the pain originally,” she remarked.

Ty Lee pressed a gentle hand to her wrist. “Let’s go get you cleaned up.”

Ty Lee was extremely careful with her wounds, though Azula didn’t consider them major. “ Any wound at all is a big deal, Zula,” she lectured her carefully, making Azula blush at the nickname.  Ty lee her hands as the water rinsed away the blood and grime—“There is no dirt, Ty Lee, my fingernails are absolutely clean!”—she cupped them in her lap as she washed around the cuts, she cradled themnear her as she taped the gauze to her palm. Azula only watched in awe, wondering how any creature could possibly posses so much gentleness.

“There! All done, now let’s get out the bathroom,” Ty Lee giggled. There was a little water on both of their clothes, but it’s dry later anyway.

“So...do you want to talk about what happened?” Ty Lee asked, once they reached her room. 

“Sokka was being a dick,” she spat. “That’s all there is to know.” She never quite understood why people who were the ‘best of friends’ claimed to argue over such minuscule things, until she was yelling at Sokka. It certainly wasn’t minuscule to her in the moment, though.

“I think it might help if you take some accountability too, Zula,” she said seriously, brushing her fingers with Azula’s own unscathed hands. 

“He was pressuring me to talk when I clearly didn’t want to. He should apologize to me.”

Ty Lee sighed, “Yes, he should apologize, but you kind of snapped on him, don’t you think that’s a little unfair?”

Azula snatched her hand from Ty Lee and winced at the sudden pain. “No, I don’t. Fuck him.” 

Ty Lee frowned, “You’ll have to do it sooner or later, Azula.”

Azula froze at that. It sounded eerily similar of what she was just telling herself about—oh.

“Azula? Are you okay?”

Azula made a face, “Yes, I’m fine, Agni.” There was an extra sprinkle of irritation in her voice.

The acrobat looked down for a minute. “Azula, can I ask you something?”

“Don’t think I’d be able to stop you, so go ahead,” she sighed.

Ty Lee pressed her lips together, like she was searching for the right words. Then, finally, “Why do you always get so angry and snappish when people try to care for you?”

That was..not what she was expecting. “What ever do you mean, Ty?”

“Whenever people are worried about you, like Sokka was down there, you just get so—pissed off! Why? Why don’t you like people checking up on you or asking about you or, or, anything, really!” Ty Lee exploded.

Azula was speechless.

Ty Lee gave her a look like she was disappointed in her. Like she’s had her potential all written down and Azula feel just short of it, ultimately failing. She’s seen that look before. There was genuine sadness there too, and that only made it all the worse.

“Sokka was only worried for you, you know,” she said quietly, “You’re right, he shouldn’t have raised his voice at you that way. You weren’t talking with us or making any snarky comments, and so he asked about you, and you—completely exploded!” 

Azula didn’t even have the energy to argue back. 

She hung her head in shame and bore holes into her sliced up hands with her eyes. 

Ty Lee sighed. “I’m sorry—“

“Don’t be,” Azula interrupted.

“—But there’s nothing wrong with taking help from people who care about you, Azula.” She looked up at her and smiled softly, something still hurt in her eyes, yet she persisted with that annoyingly invincible smile. Something always flip flopped in her stomach when she did that.

Azula had the decency to at least offer a small, lopsided smile back. And Ty Lee accepted it. 

Her mood was quickly ruined when a reminder of what she was to do here in the first place came flooding back to her.  Tell her.

Azula’s stomach twisted unpleasantly. “Um, Ty Lee?”

“Hm?”

“I-“ she stopped. She really couldn’t do it, could she? After all this proclaiming she didn’t feel fear nonsense, she was finally afraid. No—she finally acknowledged that she was afraid. And barely, for that matter. She was a coward. A coward for not admitting she was a coward, too.

“What is it? Are you alright?”

“Y-yes,” she murmured, looking down with heat in her cheeks (that she quickly dispelled). 

“We don’t have to go down there right now, you know,” she assured her. Ty Lee sat on the heels of her feet in front of the injured girl, leaning closer to lift her hands from her lap. 

“Do they still hurt?” she whispered. Azula only shook her head no, because she wasn’t really sure she could even speak with Ty Lee this close...which wasn’t really that close, but much more than usual. Enough that she could smell that stupid bubblegum shampoo she still used for her hair, and see very clearly the glint of lavender lotion on her nose that left a nice tiny shine to her it but Azula didn’t mind at all.

Ty Lee suddenly turned her attention to Azula, and peered right into her deep golden brown eyes. Azula didn’t dare breathe.

She did let out a little breath of air when Ty Lee caressed her hand with a kind smile, though. 

“You know I care about you, right Azula?”

She didn’t answer. Did she?

“Right?”

“Right, sure.”

“Well, you know now!” 

Rather than give Ty Lee a proper response, she could only stare at her hands with wide eyes. 

“Yes, I do.”

Finally, the all-pink clad girl sat up and, backing away a little further and causing Azula to find herself disappointed. “So, what do we do now?”

Ty Lee lit up and grinned, “We have a sleepover, of course!”


End file.
